Magic Lantern slide image, circa 1900. The Eads bridge. Opened in 1874. The top deck had a pedestrian walkway, a road way and at one time, an electric streetcar line. 2 railway lines ran underneath. On a sunny fall day in 1982 we walked over the bridge. On the east shore by the foundation of the ramp, there were pieces of 133 55 65 (the heavy kind) and 126 55 3dt scattered in the mud. These had to have come from the bridge. Then we were back up on the approach ramp. The roadway, in use for automobile traffic, split around the opening for the long abandoned railway line. A chain link fence, the worse for wear, blocked entrance. "We should go in there." Tim was not a collector, but this was high adventure (no pun intended) and he was up for that. The next break in traffic we were through the fence and on our way to the shadowy underside of the bridge. Telegraph lines, phone lines, electric wires and who knew what else had all run through here, what was left? We were walking back into history. The rails were gone but the ties remained and between them you could look a long way down to the Illinois shore. We had to get in under the bridge deck to be out of sight of the motorists. If we could get in far enough we might be able to ignore any attempts to call us back by pretending we couldn't hear. But first we had to walk, right out in the open, on the abandoned rail line, with end of day traffic rushing by on both sides. Curiosity made me want to run in deep under the bridge, to see what discoveries were waiting, but also there was the feeling that we didn't have a lot of time for exploration. And we didn't. The roadway wasn't up much past our heads and nowhere near where things got interesting when honking horns, slamming doors and hollering stopped us cold. We had stirred up a hornet's nest. Everybody was getting in on this action. The police but also security guards, bridge security, city employees and a guy in a sedan, suit and shades with a walkie talkie. Most of the lesser authorities drove off and we were left dealing with the police. We got the usual noisy, outraged blather about trespassing, danger, private property, big trouble, et cetera, ad nauseam. They shook us down but nothing incriminating fell out. Then suit guy stepped in and dismissed the police. He informed us, in conversational tones, that we could go, but that we shouldn't try this again. He didn't say "Or else", but it was implied and we got the message. It would have been worth the price of a couple of tickets to have been able to have walked to the other side and seen the sights. In the early 1990's the underside of the bridge was scoured of over 100 years of detritus in order to pretty it up for the MetroLink light rail project. I never heard of anything insulator related or otherwise, coming from under the bridge, but would love to know about it.